Microaggression Essay

What is Microaggression? Break down the word microaggression to micro and aggression. Micro means small and aggression means to be pushy, so with that being said is must mean being pushy in a small manor. In these couple of cases it does not. Microaggression can be a huge ordeal. Some types of microaggression include; race, religion, and stereotypes. First off, a huge microaggression in my opinion is race. Sometimes I believe people take race out of proportion and make a bigger deal out it. Since I can remember, my grandma would tell me stories of racial disputes she remembers from when she was a little girl. Blacks and whites were separated even down to everyday normality’s such as which bathroom they could use, or where they could sit down

When I say stereotypes I simply mean the different ways groups of people are based upon. One big stereotype that I’ve heard about lately is “basic white girls.” People have stereotyped Caucasian females as “basic” because of different styles of clothes, drinks being consumed, and the general feeling for certain holidays to name a few. Being part of the Caucasian female population, I find it offensive and unnecessary to put every white female in a category of “basic.” This has proceeded from a small joke to a microaggression, however, I do see this become something more serious over time. I believe that if a person from a different country was asked to give their own idea of an American white female, people would then begin to see how much of an effect this stereotype has. Another stereotype I hear a lot about is women in the military. Being a female in the military, I am consistently put into these certain stereotypes of weak, to emotional, and even being a whore. I don’t expect a civilian to understand exactly what this means but if a male, or even other female, were too be asked about this stereotype they would tell you about the same thing. I have no idea where this originated from, but I find it offensive. I began to hear about this stereotype when I made the announcement of wanting to join the military, and it has been something I’ve heard since. I believe that this microaggression has stayed under the